ExxonMobil lands major partnership for clean hydrogen facility in Baytown

power deal

ExxonMobil and Marubeni have signed a long-term deal to supply low-carbon ammonia from Texas to Japan. Photo via exxonmobil.com

Exxon Mobil and Japanese import/export company Marubeni Corp. have signed a long-term offtake agreement for 250,000 tonnes of low-carbon ammonia per year from ExxonMobil’s forthcoming facility in Baytown, Texas.

“This is another positive step forward for our landmark project,” Barry Engle, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, said in a news release. “By using American-produced natural gas we can boost global energy supply, support Japan’s decarbonization goals and create jobs at home. Our strong relationship with Marubeni sets the stage for delivering low-carbon ammonia from the U.S. to Japan for years to come."

The companies plan to produce low-carbon hydrogen with approximately 98% of CO2 removed and low-carbon ammonia. Marubeni will supply the ammonia mainly to Kobe Power Plant, a subsidiary of Kobe Steel, and has also agreed to acquire an equity stake in ExxonMobil’s low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia facility, which is expected to be one of the largest of its kind.

The Baytown facility aims to produce up to 1 billion cubic feet daily of “virtually carbon-free” hydrogen. It can also produce more than 1 million tons of low-carbon ammonia per year. A final investment decision is expected in 2025 that will be contingent on government policy and necessary regulatory permits, according to the release.

The Kobe Power Plant aims to co-fire low-carbon ammonia with existing fuel, and reduce CO2 emissions by Japan’s fiscal year of 2030. Marubeni also aims to assist the decarbonization of Japan’s power sector and steel manufacturing industry, chemical industry, transportation industry and various others sectors.

“Marubeni will take this first step together with ExxonMobil in the aim of establishing a global low-carbon ammonia supply chain for Japan through the supply of low-carbon ammonia to the Kobe Power Plant,” Yoshiaki Yokota, senior managing executive officer at Marubeni Corp., added in the news release. “Additionally, we aim to collaborate beyond this supply chain and strive towards the launch of a global market for low-carbon ammonia. We hope to continue to actively cooperate with ExxonMobil, with a view of utilizing this experience and relationship we have built to strategically decarbonize our power projects in Japan and Southeast Asia in the near future.”

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1PointFive, a subsidiary of Oxy, was granted the first-ever EPA permits for its large-scale carbon capture and sequestration facility in Texas. Photo via 1pointfive.com

Oxy subsidiary granted landmark EPA permits for carbon capture facility

making progress

Houston’s Occidental Petroleum Corp., or Oxy, and its subsidiary 1PointFive announced that the U.S Environmental Protection Agency approved its Class VI permits to sequester carbon dioxide captured from its STRATOS Direct Air Capture (DAC) facility near Odessa. These are the first such permits issued for a DAC project, according to a news release.

The $1.3 billion STRATOS project, which 1PointFive is developing through a joint venture with investment manager BlackRock, is designed to capture up to 500,000 metric tons of CO2 annually and is expected to begin commercial operations this year. DAC technology pulls CO2 from the air at any location, not just where carbon dioxide is emitted. Major companies, such as Microsoft and AT&T, have secured carbon removal credit agreements through the project.

The permits are issued under the Safe Drinking Water Act's Underground Injection Control program. The captured CO2 will be stored in geologic formations more than a mile underground, meeting the EPA’s review standards.

“This is a significant milestone for the company as we are continuing to develop vital infrastructure that will help the United States achieve energy security,” Vicki Hollub, Oxy president and CEO, said in a news release.“The permits are a catalyst to unlock value from carbon dioxide and advance Direct Air Capture technology as a solution to help organizations address their emissions or produce vital resources and fuels.”

Additionally, Oxy and 1PointFive announced the signing of a 25-year offtake agreement for 2.3 million metric tons of CO2 per year from CF Industries’ upcoming Bluepoint low-carbon ammonia facility in Ascension Parish, Louisiana.

The captured CO2 will be transported to and stored at 1PointFive’s Pelican Sequestration Hub, which is currently under development. Eventually, 1PointFive’s Pelican hub in Louisiana will include infrastructure to safely and economically sequester industrial emissions in underground geologic formations, similar to the STRATOS project.

“CF Industries’ and its partners' confidence in our Pelican Sequestration Hub is a validation of our expertise managing carbon dioxide and how we collaborate with industrial organizations to become their commercial sequestration partner,” Jeff Alvarez, President of 1PointFive Sequestration, said in a news release.

1PointFive is storing up to 20 million tons of CO2 per year, according to the company.

“By working together, we can unlock the potential of American manufacturing and energy production, while advancing industries that deliver high-quality jobs and economic growth,” Alvarez said in a news release.

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Texas battery startup Base Power hits $13B valuation with $1B raise

fresh funding

Base Power, an Austin-based residential power provider with a Houston office, has raised $1 billion in a Series D round, bringing the startup’s valuation to $13 billion.

Ribbit, Addition, Valor Equity Partners, and JPMorganChase’s Strategic Investment Group led the round, with participation from Altimeter, D1 Capital Partners, Sands Capital, Coatue, Layer Global, and Energy Impact Partners. Existing investors also added to the round, including Thrive Capital, a16z, Lightspeed, Trust Ventures, and CapitalG.

Base Power, which provides residential battery backup systems that automatically turn on during outages and sells electricity to homeowners, says the funding will go toward hiring more people and expanding nationally.

Since being founded in 2023, Base Power has raised more than $2.5 billion. Base Power’s factory in Austin is already manufacturing thousands of the batteries each month.

In conjunction with the funding announcement, the startup launched Base Core, a home battery designed to support the power grid. Today, Base Core is available to homeowners in certain parts of Texas and Illinois, including the Houston area.

Zach Dell, co-founder and CEO of Base Power, said in a news release that Base Core “installs in under an hour, switches over seamlessly, is built to handle extreme weather, and delivers extended outage protection at a price Americans can afford.”

Dell is the son of Austin tech billionaire Michael Dell, founder, chairman, and CEO of Round Rock-based Dell Technologies.

In only three years, Base Power has grown its battery fleet to a capacity of more than 500 megawatt-hours, expanded beyond Texas into Illinois, and forged partnerships with utilities such as Austin Energy, El Paso Electric, and CoServ.

Antonio Gracias, founder, CEO, and chief investment officer at Valor Equity Partners, says Base Power is executing on an “ambitious plan” to become America’s power company. The startup “has emerged as one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to add capacity to the grid,” he says.

Base Power opened its offices in Katy, Texas, in October 2025 and expanded its service to the city of Houston around the same time. Read more here.

Houston subsea firm Zupt acquired in offshore tech deal

m&a activity

Houston-based Zupt LLC, a provider of advanced metrology, inspection, and engineering services for offshore energy and renewable projects, has been acquired by Columbus, Ohio-based Rosenxt Holding USA for an undisclosed amount.

Rosenxt says the deal, which closed July 21, represents another step in its long-term strategy to build a portfolio of technology and engineering capabilities for the subsea market in the energy sector.

“Our ambition has always been to think decades ahead,” Hermann Rosen, chairman of Switzerland-based Rosenxt Group, the parent company of Rosenxt Holding USA, said in a news release.

“The future of subsea and offshore industries will be shaped by intelligent technologies that fundamentally change how critical infrastructure is explored, installed, inspected and operated,” he added. “Zupt is another important building block in this vision.”

Rosenxt says offshore operators and installation contractors face pressure to execute subsea projects more efficiently amid workforce shortages, weather concerns, tougher safety standards, and rising capital and operating expenses.

“The offshore sector continues to embrace technologies that enhance data quality, reduce operational risk, and improve decision-making across the asset lifecycle,” Houston M&A attorney Amelia Zhang, who led law firm Norton Rose Fulbright’s representation of Zupt, added in the release.

Rosenxt provides services for the subsea market that combine sensing, robotics, AI, analytics and engineering. Zupt complements those services with offerings for operations, such as high-resolution 3D inspection, digital twin generation, and inspection and engineering technologies for subs.

Zupt President Keith Vickery founded the company in 2005.

Vickery says Zupt “has focused on solving some of the subsea industry’s most demanding marine construction and inspection challenges through innovative engineering, operational experience, and close collaboration with our customers.”

Mordor Intelligence estimates the value of the subsea market will climb from $19.75 billion this year to $25.03 billion in 2031. North America represents the largest segment of the global market.

Houston energy tech company Molecule makes gas operations acquisition

software acquisition

Houston-based energy trading risk management (ETRM) software company Molecule has announced the acquisition of Dallas-based Trilogy Energy Solutions.

Molecule CEO Patrick Smith called the deal a "defining moment" for the company, as it allows Molecule's platform to expand to include physical gas operations.

“For years, this industry has drawn the ETRM box too small, creating inefficient silos by treating trading and physical operations as separate budgets and separate problems, when the real cost lives in the handoffs between them," Smith said in a news release. "Trilogy’s domain expertise in physical gas operations closes that gap. Together, we can give producers, midstream operators, and trading desks something the market has been asking for: a single, integrated view from wellhead to trading desk, without the manual reconciliation, spreadsheet workarounds, and legacy handoffs that slow the industry down.”

Trilogy, founded in 2014, is a provider of cloud-based software for the day-to-day logistics of physical natural gas operations. The platform allows users—including producers, marketers, midstream companies, pipeline operators and others—to manage activities such as pipeline nominations, gas gathering operations and more. Thus far, Molecule's platform has focused on energy trading and managing financial and commercial activities.

Through the acquisition, the combined company will now offer a full-stack enabled ETRM and energy operating system. Users of both platforms can expect continuity of service, according to the companies.

“Molecule has always been about meeting trading teams where they actually work, focused on being fast, accurate, and deeply integrated into their day-to-day workflow,” Sameer Soleja, founder and president of Molecule, added in the release. “Bringing Trilogy into the Molecule family extends that mission from the trading desk into the physical operations of the gas business. The two platforms complement each other exceedingly well, and the combined product will be able to offer all-in-one capabilities that lead the ETRM market, both in its tech-forward nature, and in its depth.”

Molecule expects the combined platform to help users reduce manual month-end close work, cut costs, and improve data accuracy and decision-making.

Trilogy's Chief Product Officer Jeremy Frye will join the Molecule team, along with others from Trilogy.

“Trilogy has spent decades building the trust of companies across the physical natural gas industry by delivering software that stands up to the demands of physical gas operations... It’s a rare combination that brings the best of both worlds, and I’m energized about what our teams will build together,” Frye added in the release.

California-based Sundance Growth, an existing investor in Molecule, supported the acquisition. The software growth equity firm raised a $125 million debut fund in 2025 and focuses on B2B SaaS companies.

Sundance led Molecule's Series B round, which closed last summer for an undisclosed amount. At the time, Soleja said the funding would allow Molecule to "double down on product innovation, grow our team, and reach even more markets."

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